A 44-year-old Firestone woman says she suffered a seizure and blacked out while she was trying to turn her car around before reaching a washed-out Weld County Road 1 bridge over the St. Vrain River on Monday night.

Paige Starbeck said in a Tuesday afternoon telephone interview from Longmont United Hospital that she had the seizure when trying to make a U-turn after spotting a road-closed sign on the northbound approach to the bridge.

Court records show that Starbeck was found guilty in Weld County on Aug. 16 of driving under the influence last January and that she was sentenced to 24 months on probation in September.

A Firestone woman was injured Monday when she drove past "road closed" signs and into the bed of the St. Vrain River on Weld County Road 1.
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Matthew Jonas
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On Tuesday night, Starbeck said she does not currently have a driver's license. She said she hadn't been drinking before the accident, but that she had to get to Longmont United Hospital on Monday night for a random breathalyzer test and to deliver a urine sample, or else she'd have violated the terms of her probation.

Starbeck, who was hospitalized after being taken from the accident scene to LUH, was reported by hospital officials Tuesday to be in good condition after undergoing what she said was facial surgery and treatment for other injuries she'd suffered when her car plunged onto the riverbed.

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Starbeck said Tuesday that on Monday night she did see a road-closed sign on the side but thought at first that WCR1 was still open to neighboring residents. She said that when she realized it was closed ahead, and that she needed to turn back south, she was in the midst of doing so when her seizure happened.

"I don't remember anything" about plunging into the riverbed in her 2004 Ford on the stretch of road south of Colo. Highway 119 shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday, Starbeck said.

Barricades sit on Weld County Road 1 near the intersection of Quicksilver Road on Tuesday east of Longmont.
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Matthew Jonas
)

She said she awoke inside her overturned car, which had plunged into the gaping hole in the road where the flood-destroyed bridge had once stood.

Starbeck said she crawled outside the car, accompanied by her dog Chuck, an 11-year-old cockapoo who'd been riding with her, and began screaming. She said she got the attention of neighbors who called 911 and called authorities to the accident scene.

"It was absolutely horrid," Starbeck said of the experience, but "God was definitely on my side."

Starbeck said she initially told authorities that someone else had been driving because she wasn't supposed to be driving. Officers said that wound up leading to an hour-and-a-half search in the dark for the other occupant.

Starbeck said Tuesday that she ultimately told authorities that "I have to be completely honest," and that she'd been alone in the car with her dog.

On Tuesday afternoon, Colorado State Patrol spokesman Nate Reid said he didn't have any additional information yet from the trooper who investigated the accident Monday night about the status of that investigation or possible charges.

The bridge south of Colo. 119 was washed out during September's floods, and work on designing a new one over the St. Vrain River is under way. Officials hope to start construction this winter, according to Boulder County transportation director George Gerstle.

Boulder County officials said in October that they'd be paying for the work of building a replacement bridge, a project Gerstle said Tuesday has been estimated to cost about $4 million.

Because the floods changed part of the river's corridor and bank and water elevations, "it's not a simple solution of just popping new bridge down," Gerstle said.

Boulder and Weld counties jointly own the segment of the north-south road that Weld calls Weld County Road 1 and Boulder County calls East County Line Road. But Boulder County has been responsible for maintaining that segment of the road, including the bridge, and making any improvements needed.

Gerstle said Boulder County hopes the Federal Highway Administration will reimburse Boulder County for whatever winds up being spent designing and constructing the replacement bridge and its approaches.

Gerstle said Boulder County doesn't have any plans for additional signs or barricades on the northbound approach to the bridge in light of Monday night's accident.

The warning signs and barricades erected after September's floods complied with standards set by the federal Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, "with plenty of advance notification" for drivers approaching the gap, Gerstle said.

Gerstle said a northbound vehicle approaching the washed-out bridge has to drive by and around "a minimum of two barricades and not see several signs" before getting to "the hazard area."

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